Nicklas Lidstrom ranks with all-time best

By Kevin Allen, USA TODAY

No one was as effective as Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom on a hockey rink. No one could make the first pass out of the zone the way he could. No one could bat pucks out of the air like Lidstrom could. No one was as brilliant in one-on-one defensive situations. No one had his endurance in games, or his durability during a career.

Whenever someone in the Detroit press box was struggling to decide whom to select as the three stars of the game, my advice was to pick Lidstrom because it was always a certainty that he was among the top three players on the ice.

Lidstrom, who retired Thursday, played hockey the way Faulkner wrote, Rembrandt painted and Sinatra crooned. He had a memorable style and elegance all his own.

Over the last decade or so, whenever you would ask young defensemen who they liked to watch play their position, the answer was always Lidstrom.

In the pre-lockout NHL, Lidstrom was the master of legalized interference. No one was more adept at tying up an opponent without drawing a penalty. He was not a physical player, yet he could erase a player from an offensive rush just as thoroughly as if he had blasted him into the first row.

He didn't have an overpowering shot, but he guided his point shot into the upper corner of the net like it was attached to a laser pointer. When the Red Wings rained goals down upon opponents in their best offensive years, it was usually Lidstrom who triggered the outburst with a pass or a shot. He perfected the art of the shot-pass, firing a puck from the point that was designed to go wide, bounce off the back boards and carom in front of the net. On some nights, everyone else was playing hockey, and Lidstrom was shooting pool.

He also would also make it look like he was firing a shot on goal when he was really trying to hit the stick of a player in front of the net.

Lidstrom's accomplishments

NHL first All-Star (11): 1998-2003, 2006-08, 2011

Norris trophies (7): 2001-03, 2006-08, 2011

Stanley Cups (4): 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008

Playoff MVP (1): 2002

Regular-season games: 1,564

Regular-season goals: 264

Regular-season assists: 878

Regular-season points: 1,142

Regular-season plus-minus: +450

Playoff games: 263

Playoff goals: 54

Playoff assists: 129

Playoff points: 183

Playoff plus-minus: +60

Olympic appearances (4): 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010

Olympic medals (1): gold in 2006

Others viewed hockey like it was a chess game, but Lidstrom was usually playing three-dimensional chess.

After the rule changes of 2005, it was said that Lidstrom might be less effective because some of his best defensive moves were now illegal.

Lidstrom seemed to have an incredible ability to make the play come to him. He had the best positioning of any defenseman I ever watched. He was always where he should be and always seemed to know where the puck would end up.

In the same manner that Wayne Gretzky was an offensive magician, Lidstrom was a defensive magician. An opponent would seem to have an excellent scoring chance, and Lidstrom would make it disappear. Nothing up my sleeve. Presto. It was gone.

As is the case in watching most magicians, you were always left wondering how Lidstrom did it.

His former teammate, Brendan Shanahan, always said that Lidstrom was able to think the game two or three seconds faster than everyone else.

In a sport in which Bobby Orr revolutionized the game with his puck-moving ability, the competition for a place on the list of the NHL's all-time greatest defensemen is for second place.

Lidstrom won seven Norris Trophies, one fewer than Orr. He won four Stanley Cup championships and an Olympic gold medal. A Swede, he was the first European captain to hoist the Stanley Cup. He won a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

At 42, he was still among the best five defensemen in the NHL. He is a remarkable athlete.

His durability and longevity are what give him an edge over the others. He played in 97.2% of his team's games over a career that lasted two decades.

Lidstrom's retirement is a major loss to the sport because no one has a better public image than Lidstrom. He's a family man. He always does the right thing, says the right words.

He's genuine and considerate. The one award he deserves, and never received, is the Lady Byng Trophy, given annually to league's most gentlemanly player.

I've voted him first on my ballot every year for more than a decade because no one is more gentlemanly than Lidstrom on or off the ice.

The only flaw that Lidstrom has is that he could not play forever. Not even the Perfect Human could do that.

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